Def Leppard 'Songs from the Sparkle Lounge' Review

12-05-2008 09:20

Songs from the Sparkle Lounge is Def Leppard’s first studio album in six years and it sees one of Britain’s best rock bands return to form.The record is full of classic pop rock songs that are polished and catchy that nod back to their successful albums of the eighties, highlighting why they are such an enduring act.Kicking off with ‘Go’ a real rock anthem of blazing guitars that is reminiscent of their Hysteria heyday. Nine lives shows a maturity in Elliott’s vocals and well as featuring an unexpected country twang as they collaborate with Tim McGraw, a master in that genre and an unlikely alliance, but a strong point of the record.They alter the pace with the haunting melody and acoustic guitar solo in Love that once again shows their softer side.They back up these great opening album tracks with C’Mon C’Mon, Tomorrow and Hallucinate all of which contribute to this really solid, but not classic, record.

However no album is perfect and Bad Actress is well and truly one to avoid.

Having sold over sixty five million records it would have been easy for the Def Leppard boys to try and repeat the formula that made them so successful in the past.

Their 2002 album X saw them try to fit in with a more modern rock sound but with Songs from the Sparkle Lounge they have returned to their own sound of trademarks hooks and choruses without repeating what has gone before.

The album will be a hit with the long standing Def Leppard fans as well as keeping them on a label despite Songs from the Sparkle Lounge not packing the punch of Hysteria of Adrenalize. But nearly twenty years after their peak it’s great to see the Def Leppard boys back in fine form.

Album highlights: Nine Lives, C’Mon C’Mon, Tomorrow and Love.

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw